Tri-County Humane Society: Cat Enrichment Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The 2024 Cat Enrichment Grant helped Tri-County Humane Society (TCHS) provide cardboard scratch pads for 500 cats in our shelter. TCHS typically places around 3,000 cats and kittens in new homes annually. The scratchers purchased with this grant helped defray the cost of providing one for each cat in our care. The scratch pads are sent home with the cat to ease the transition to an unfamiliar environment. This provides an outlet for their natural behavior and encourages them to scratch in an appropriate location.
We received the scratch pads in March 2024. In April, TCHS helped with a large hoarding case from which we received 94 cats and kittens. This massive intake was the largest in our shelter's 50-year history. In addition to incurring the expense of housing and daily care, most of the cats needed additional medical attention. The scratchers that we had on-hand from this grant helped ease the financial impact on our shelter.
How many pets did this grant help?
500
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Walker and Apocolypse are two of the cats TCHS received from the hoarding case. They initially went to foster care to grow big enough for adoption. These two best friends were also both positive for feline leukemia, making them harder to place.
When they were ready to come back to the shelter to be adopted, TCHS was in the peak of kitten season. With many healthy kittens in the building, Walker and Apocolypse were repeatedly passed over. The average stay in our shelter is just seven days, so it was very unusual for two adorable kittens to be in our care for so long.
Because of this grant, Walker and Apocolypse had scratch pads available to help alleviate boredom and provide enrichment. They were finally adopted together on June 25! We were happy to set them up for success in their new home by providing the adopter with the scratch pads the kittens had already been using.
